DEFENSE  OF  THE  NEGRO  RACE-CHARGES  ANSWERED. 


Sow  the  seed  of  a tarnished  name — ■ 

You  sow  the  seed  of  eternal  shame.  ’ ’ 

It  is  needless  to  ask  what  the  harvest  will  be. 


SPEECH 


OF 


HON.  GEORGE  H.  WHITE. 

OF  NORTH  CAROLINA, 


IN  THE 


HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 


January  29,  1901. 


WASHINGTrON. 


32-5.41 

\NSSd. 


SPEECH 

OF 

HON.  GEOKGB  H.  WHITE. 


The  House  being  in  the  Committee  of  the  Whole  on  the  state  of  the  Union, 
and  having  under  consideration  the  bill  (H.  R.  13801)  making  appropriations 
for  the  Department  of  Agriculture  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30, 1902— 

Mr.  WHITE  said: 

Mr.  Chairman:  In  the  consideration  of  the  bill  now  under  de- 
bate the  Committee  on  Agriculture  has  had  a wide  and  very  varied 
experience.  We  have  had  the  farmers  and  their  interests  fully 
represented,  and  demand  that  the  present  seed  list,  giving  to  each 
Member  and  Delegate  9,000  packages,  shall  not  be  diminished, 
but  rather  increased.  The  beauties  of  their  avocation  have  been 
elaborately  portrayed.  The  increase  of  the  agricultural  industry 
has  been  shown  beyond  any  possible  doubt,  and  a little  Depart- 
ment, but  a few  years  ago  controlled  by  a commissioner  of  agri- 
culture, has  now  grown  to  wonderful  proportion,  and  is  now  pre- 
sided over  by  a Cabinet  officer,  Secretary  of  Agriculture,  if  you 
please,  and  a very  good  one  he  is.  And  with  the  present  ratio  of 
increase  this  Department  is  destined  in  a few  years  to  be  one  of 
the  largest,  if  not  surpassing  all  other  departments  in  the  Presi- 
dent’s Cabinet.  But  this  side  of  the  question,  with  its  heterogene- 
ous interests  and  growth,  is  not  without  opposition. 

We  have  been  besought  by  the  seed  men  from  all  parts  of  the 
country  demanding  that  the  appropriation  for  the  free  distribu- 
tion of  seed  be  once  and  forever  hereafter  dispensed  with;  that 
there  can  be  no  good  reason  assigned  why  the  Government  should 
continue  to  make  appropriations  for  the  free  distribution  of  agri- 
cultural seeds,  which  are  purchased,  not  from  the  first  class  seed 
growers  and  sellers,  but  rather  from  a kind  of  junk  or  second  or 
third  rate  establishments,  whose  headquarters  can  hardly  be  found 
by  a search  warrant,  and  stored  away  in  some  little  2 by  4 room  up 
in  the  garret  in  our  large  cities — East,  West,  North,  and  South.  This 
Government  has  no  more  right,  so  they  say,  to  furnish  these  seeds 
for  free  distribution  throughout  the  country,  which  purchasers 
could  obtain  at  every  crossroads  store  in  each  State,  thai>it  has  the 
right  to  supply  all  persons  desiring  them  ham  and  eggs,  beefsteak 
and  onions,  hot  rolls  with  biscuit  and  coffee,  or  any  of  the  other 
necessities  of  life,  either  as  food  consumption  or  matters  of  home 
ornament  or  wearing  apparel.  But  here  we  are,  a custom  once 
established  soon  becomes  by  common  use  a law,  and  it  is  exceed- 
ingly difficult  to  break  away  therefrom;  hence  the  usual  appropria- 
tion for  the  free  distribution  of  seed  will  be  found  in  this  bill. 

But  the  committee  has  been  enlightened  and  greatly  edified 
along  other  lines  than  that  of  distributing  free  agricultural  seed. 
We  have  had  scientists  from  every  bureau  and  subordinate  divi- 
sion in  the  Agricultural  Department  before  us,  each  portraying 
the  indispensability  of  his  work  and  the  absolute  necessity  for 
his  department  to  be  extended  and  the  salaries  of  the  heads  of 
4686  3 


4 


these  bureaus  and  divisions  respectively  increased;  that  each  in 
his  peculiar  sphere  has  spent  a lifetime  in  becoming  a specialist, 
and  that  he  could  get  far  more  for  his  indispensable  knowledge  in 
the  great  colleges  and  universities  of  the  land  than  “Uncle  Sam” 
is  paying  him;  but  out  of  sheer  charity  for  this  Government  and 
the  fullness  of  patriotic  hearts  they  continue  to  serve  us,  and  beg 
that  their  salaries  will  be  increased  commensurate  with  their  wis- 
dom. There  is  no  end  to  the  demands  for  an  increase  in  the 
laboring  force,  so  far  as  numbers  go,  but  not  a word  have  Vv^e 
heard  about  the  increase  of  the  salary  of  men  and  women  whose 
pay  ranges  between  $25  and  $75  per  month,  who,  of  necessity, 
must  live  upon  the  cheapest  things  of  life,  with  the  most  humble 
surroundings,  and  doubtless  after  dinner  each  day  the  good  wife 
and  children  of  these  humble  homes  must  suck  their  thumbs  as  a 
kind  of  supplement  to  the  poor  meal  their  scanty  earnings  will 
afford. 

But,  Mr.  Chairman,  there  are  others  on  this  committee  and  in 
this  House  who  are  far  better  prepared  to  enlighten  the  world  with 
their  eloquence  as  to  what  the  agriculturists  of  this  country  need 
than  your  humble  servant.  I therefore  resign  to  more  competent 
minds  the  discussion  of  this  bill.  I shall  consume  the  remainder 
of  my  time  in  reverting  to  measures  and  facts  that  have  in  them 
more  weighty  interests  to  me  and  mine  than  that  of  agriculture — 
matters  of  life  and  existence. 

I want  to  enter  a plea  for  the  colored  man,  the  colored  woman, 
the  colored  boy,  and  the  colored  girl  of  this  country.  I would  not 
thus  digress  from  the  question  at  issue  and  detain  the  House  in  a 
discussion  of  the  interests  of  this  particular  people  at  this  time 
but  for  the  constant  and  the  persistent  efforts  of  certain  gentle- 
men upon  this  floor  to  mold  and  rivet  public  sentiment  against  us 
as  a people  and  to  lose  no  opportunity  to  hold  up  the  unfortunate 
few  who  commit  crimes  and  depredations  and  lead  lives  of  infamy 
and  shame,  as  other  races  do,  as  fair  specimens  of  representatives 
of  the  entire  colored  race.  And  at  no  time,  perhaps,  during  the 
Fifty-sixth  Congress  were  these  charges  and  countercharges, 
containing,  as  they  do,  slanderous  statements,  more  persistently 
magnified  and  pressed  upon  the  attention  of  the  nation  than  dur- 
ing the  consideration  of  the  recent  reapportionment  bill,  which  is 
now  a law.  As  stated  some  days  ago  on  this  floor  by  me,  I then 
sought  diligently  to  obtain  an  opportunity  to  answer  some  of  the 
statements  made  by  gentlemen  from  different  States,  but  the  priv- 
ilege was  denied  me;  and  I therefore  must  embrace  this  oppor- 
tunity to  say,  out  of  season,  perhaps,  that  which  I was  not  per- 
mitted to  say  in  season. 

In  the  dhtalogue  of  members  of  Congress  in  this  House  perhaps 
none  have  been  more  persistent  in  their  determination  to  bring  the 
black  man  into  disrepute  and,  with  a labored  effort,  to  show  that 
he  was  unworthy  of  the  right  of  citizenship  than  my  colleague 
from  North  Carolina,  Mr.  Kitchin.  During  the  first  session  of 
this  Congress,  while  the  Constitutional  amendment  was  pending 
in  North  Carolina,  he  labored  long  and  hard  to  show  that  the 
white  race  was  at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstances  superior 
to  the  negro  by  inheritance  if  not  otherwise,  and  the  excuse  for 
his  party  supporting  that  amendment,  which  has  since  been 
adopted,  was  that  an  illiterate  negro  was  unfit  to  participate  in 
making  the  laws  of  a sovereign  State  and  the  administration  and 
execution  of  them;  but  an  illiterate  white  man  living  by  his  side, 
4C86 


5 


with  no  more  or  perhaps  not  as  much  property,  with  no  more 
exalted  character,  no  higher  thoughts  of  civilization,  no  more  know- 
ledge of  the  handicraft  of  government,  had  by  birth,  because  he 
was  white,  inherited  some  peculiar  qualification,  clear,  I presume, 
only  in  the  mind  of  the  gentleman  who  endeavored  to  impress  it 
upon  others,  that  entitled  him  to  vote,  though  he  knew  nothing 
whatever  of  letters.  It  is  true,  in  my  opinion,  that  men  brood 
over  things  at  times  which  they  would  have  exist  until  they  fool 
themselves  and  actually,  sometimes  honestly,  believe  that  such 
things  do  exist. 

I would  like  to  call  the  gentleman’s  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  forbids  the  granting  of  any 
title  of  nobility  to  any  citizen  thereof,  and  while  it  does  not  in 
letters  forbid  the  inheritance  of  this  superior  caste,  I believe  in 
the  fertile  imagination  of  the  gentleman  promulgating  it,  his 
position  is  at  least  in  conflict  with  the  spirit  of  that  oi  ganic  law 
of  the  land.  He  insists  and,  I believe,  has  introduced  a resolution 
in  this  House  for  the  repeal  of  the  fifteenth  amendment  to  the 
Constitution.  As  an  excuse  for  his  peculiar  notions  about  the 
exercise  of  the  right  of  franchise  by  citizens  of  the  United  States 
of  different  nationality,  perhaps  it  would  not  be  amiss  to  call  the 
attention  of  this  House  to  a few  facts  and  figures  surrounding 
his  birth  and  rearing.  To  begin  with,  he  was  born  in  one  of  the 
counties  in  my  district,  Halifax,  a rather  significant  name. 

I might  state  as  a further  general  fact  that  the  Democrats  of 
North  Carolina  got  possession  of  the  State  and  local  government 
since  my  last  election  in  1898,  and  that  I bid  adieu  to  these  his- 
toric walls  on  the  4th  day  of  next  March,  and  that  the  brother  of 
Mr.  Kitchin  will  succeed  me.  Comment  is  unnecessary.  In  the 
town  where  this  young  gentleman  was  born,  at  the  general  elec- 
tion last  August  for  the  adoption  of  the  constitutional  amend- 
ment, and  the  general  election  for  State  and  county  officers,  Scot- 
land Neck  had  a registered  white  vote  of  395,  most  of  whom  of 
course  were  Democrats,  and  a registered  colored  vote  of  534,  vir- 
tually if  not  all  of  whom  were  Republicans,  and  so  voted.  When 
the  count  wa_s  announced,  however,  there  were  831  Democrats  to 
75  Republicans;  but  in  the  town  of  Halifax,  same  county,  the  re- 
sult was  much  more  pronounced. 

In  that  town  the  registered  Republican  vote  was  345,  and  the 
total  registered  vote  of  the  township  was  539,  but  when  the  count 
was  announced  it  stood  990  Democrats  to  41  Republicans,  or  492 
more  Democratic  votes  counted  than  were  registered  votes  in  the 
township.  Comment  here  is  unnecessary,  nor  do  I think  it  neces- 
sary for  anyone  to  wonder  at  the  peculiar  notion  my  colleague 
has  with  reference  to  the  manner  of  voting  and  the  method  of 
counting  those  votes,  nor  is  it  to  be  a wonder  that  he  is  a mem- 
ber of  this  Congress,  having  been  brought  up  and  educated  in 
such  wonderful  notions  of  dealing  out  fair-handed  justice  to  his 
fellow-man. 

It  would  be  unfair,  however,  for  me  to  leave  the  inference  upon 
the  minds  of  those  who  hear  me  that  all  of  the  white  people  of  the 
State  of  North  Carolina  hold  views  with  Mr.  Kitchin  and  think 
as  he  does.  Thank  God  there  are  manj’’  noble  exceptions  to  the 
example  he  sets,  that,  too,  in  the  Democratic  party;  men  who 
have  never  been  afraid  that  one  uneducated,  poor,  depressed 
negro  could  put  to  flight  and  chase  into  degredation  two  educated, 
wealthy,  thrifty  white  men.  There  never  has  been,  nor  ever  will 
4686 


6 


be,  any  negro  domination  in  that  State,  and  no  one  knows  it  any 
better  than  the  Democratic  party.  It  is  a convenient  howl,  how- 
ever, often  resorted  to  in  order  to  consummate  a diabolical  pur- 
pose by  scaring  the  weak  and  gallible  whites  into  support  of 
measures  and  men  suitable  to  the  demagogue  and  the  ambitious 
office  seeker,  whose  crave  for  office  overshadows  and  puts  to  flight 
all  other  considerations,  fair  or  unfair. 

As  I stated  on  a former  occasion,  this  young  statesman  has 
ample  time  to  learn  better  and  more  useful  knowledge  than  he 
has  exhibited  in  many  of  his  speeches  upon  this  floor,  and  I again 
plead  for  him  the  statute  of  youth  for  the  wild  and  spasmodic 
notions  which  he  has  endeavored  to  rivet  upon  his  colleagues  and 
this  country.  But  I regret  that  Mr.  Kitchin  is  not  alone  upon 
this  floor  in  these  peculiar  notions  advanced.  I quote  from  another 
young  member  of  Congress,  hailing  from  the  State  of  Alabama 
[Mr.  Underwood]: 

Mr.  Speaker,  in  five  minutes  the  issues  involved  in  this  case  can  not  he 
discussed.  I was  in  hopes  that  this  question  would  not  come  up  at  this  ses- 
sion of  Congress.  When  the  fourteenth  amendment  was  originally  adopted 
it  was  the  intention  of  the  legislative  body  that  enacted  it  and  of  the  people 
who  ratified  it  to  force  the  Southern  people  to  give  the  elective  franchise  to 
the  negro.  That  was  the  real  purpose  of  the  fourteenth  amendment.  It 
failed  in  that  purpose.  The  fifteenth  amendment  was  adopted  for  the  same 
purpose.  That  was  successful  for  the  time  being.  It  has  proved  a lamenta- 
ble mistake,  not  only  to  the  people  of  the  South,  but  to  the  people  of  the 
North;  not  only  to  the  Democratic  party,  but  to  the  Republican  party. 

The  time  has  now  come  when  the  bitterness  of  civil  strife  has  passed.  The 
people  of  the  South,  with  fairness  and  justice  to  themselves  and  fairness  to 
that  race  that  has  been  forced  among  them— the  negro  race— are  attempting 
to  work  away  from  those  conditions;  not  to  oppress  or  to  put  their  foot  on 
the  neck  of  the  negro  race,  but  to  protect  their  homes  and  their  property 
against  misgovernment  and  at  the  same  time  give  this  inferior  race  a chance 
to  grow  up  and  acquire  their  civilization.  When  you  bring  this  resolution 
before  this  House  and  thrust  it  as  a firebrand  into  the  legislation  here,  you 
do  more  injury  to  the  negro  race  of  the  South  than  any  man  has  done  since 
the  fifteenth  amendment  was  originally  enacted.  I tell  you,  sirs,  there  is  but 
one  way  to  solve  this  problem.  You  gentlemen  of  the  North,  who  do  not  live 
among  them  and  do  not  know  the  conditions,  can  not  solve  it. 

We  of  the  South  are  trying,  as  God  is  our  judge,  to  solve  it  fairly  to  both 
races.  It  can  not  be  done  in  a day  or  a week;  and  I appeal  to  you,  if  you  are 
in  favor  of  the  upbiiilding  of  the  negro  race,  if  you  are  in  favor  of  honest  gov- 
ernments in  the  Southern  States,  if  you  are  willingto  let  us  protect  our  homes 
and  our  property— yes,  and  the  investments  that  you  have  brought  there 
among  us— then  Isay  to  you,  let  us  send  this  resolution  to  a committee  where 
it  may  die  and  never  be  heard  of  again.  When  we  have  done  that,  when  we 
have  worked  out  the  problem  and  put  it  upon  a fair  basis,  then  if  we  are  get- 
ting more  representation  than  we  are  entitled  to,  five  or  six  or  ten  years  from 
now  come  to  us  with  the  proposition  fairly  to  repeal  both  the  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  amendments  and  substitute  in  their  place  a constitutional  amend- 
ment that  will  put  representation  on  a basis  that  we  can  all  agree  is  fair  and 
equitable.  Do  not  let  us  drive  it  along  party  lines. 

It  is  an  undisputed  fact  that  the  negro  vote  in  the  State  of  Ala- 
bama, as  well  as  most  of  the  other  Southern  States,  have  been  ef- 
fectively suppressed,  either  oneway  or  the  other — in  some  instances 
by  constitutional  amendment  and  State  legislation,  in  others  by 
cold-blooded  fraud  and  intimidation,  but  whatever  the  method 
pursued,  it  is  not  denied,  but  frankly  admitted  in  the  speeches  in 
this  House,  that  the  black  vote  has  been  eliminated  to  a large  ex- 
tent. Then,  when  some  of  us  insist  that  the  plain  letter  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  which  all  of  us  have  sworn  to  sup- 
port, should  be  carried  out,  as  expressed  in  the  second  section  of 
the  fourteenth  amendment  thereof,  to  wit: 

Representatives  shall  be  apportioned  among  the  several  States  according 
to  their  respective  numlers,  counting  the  whole  number  of  persons  in  each 
State,  excluding  Indians  not  taxed.  But  when  the  right  to  vote  at  any  elec- 
4086 


7 


tion  for  the  choice  of  electors  for  President  and  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States,  Representatives  in  Congress,  the  executive  and  judicial  officers  of  a 
State,  or  the  members  of  a legislature  thereof,  is  denied  to  any  of  the  male 
inhabitants  of  such  State,  being  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  or  in  any  way  abridged,  except  for  participation  in  rebellion, 
or  other  crime,  the  basis  of  representation  therein  shall  be  reduced  in  pro- 
portion which  the  number  of  such  male  citizens  shall  bear  to  the  whole  num- 
ber of  male  citizens  twenty-one  years  of  age  in  such  State. 

That  section  makes  the  duty  of  every  member  of  Congress  plain, 
and  yet  the  gentleman  from  Alabama  [Mr.  Underwood]  says 
that  the  attempt  to  enforce  this  section  of  the  organic  law  is  the 
throwing  down  of  firebrands,  and  notifies  the  world  that  this 
attempt  to  execute  the  highest  law  of  the  land  will  be  retaliated 
by  the  South,  and  the  inference  is  that  the  negro  will  be  even  more 
severely  punished  than  the  horrors  through  which  he  has  already 
come. 

Let  me  make  it  plain:  The  divine  law,  as  well  as  most  of  the 
State  laws,  says, in  substance:  “He  that  sheddeth  man’s  blood, by 
man  shall  his  blood  be  shed.”  A highwayman  commits  murder, 
and  when  the  officers  of  the  law  undertake  to  arrest,  try,  and 
punish  him  commensurate  with  the  enormity  of  his  crime,  he 
straightens  himself  up  to  his  full  height  and  defiantly  says  to  them: 
“ Let  me  alone;  I will  not  be  arrested,  1 will  not  be  tried.  I’ll  have 
none  of  the  execution  of  your  laws,  and  in  the  event  you  attempt 
to  execute  your  laws  upon  me,  I will  see  to  it  that  many  more 
men,  women,  or  children  are  murdered.” 

Here's  the  plain  letter  of  the  Constitution,  the  plain,  simple, 
sworn  duty  of  every  member  of  Congress;  yet  these  gentlemen 
from  the  South  say  “Yes,  we  have  violated  your  Constitution  of 
the  nation;  we  regarded  it  as  a local  necessity;  and  now,  if  you 
undertake  to  punish  us  as  the  Constitution  prescribes,  we  will  see 
to  it  that  our  former  deeds  of  disloyalty  to  that  instrument,  our 
former  acts  of  disfranchisement  and  opposition  to  the  highest  law 
of  the  land  will  be  repeated  many  fold.” 

Not  content  with  all  that  has  been  done  to  the  black  man,  not 
because  of  any  deeds  that  he  has  done,  Mr.  Underwood  advances 
the  startling  information  that  these  people  have  been  thrust  upon 
the  whites  of  the  South,  forgetting,  perhaps,  the  horrors  of  the 
slave  trade,  the  unspeakable  horrors  of  the  transit  from  the  shores 
of  Africa  by  means  of  the  middle  passage  to  the  American  clime; 
the  enforced  bondage  of  the  blacks  and  their  descendants  for  two 
and  a half  centuries  in  the  United  States,  now,  for  the  first  time 
perhaps  in  the  history  of  our  lives,  the  information  comes  that 
these  poor,  helpless,  and  in  the  main  inoffensive  people  were 
thrust  upon  our  Southern  brethren. 

Individually,  and  so  far  as  my  race  is  concerned,  I care  but 
little  about  the  reduction  of  Southern  representation,  except  in  so 
far  as  it  becomes  my  duty  to  aid  in  the  proper  execution  of  all 
the  laws  of  the  land  in  whatever  sphere  in  which  I may  be  placed. 
Such  reduction  in  representation,  it  is  true,  would  make  more  se- 
cure the  installment  of  the  great  Republican  party  in  power  for 
many  years  to  come  in  all  of  its  branches,  and  at  the  same  time  en- 
able that  great  party  to  be  able  to  dispense  with  the  further  support 
of  the  loyal  negro  vote;  and  I might  here  parenthetically  state 
that  there  are  some  members  of  the  Republican  party  to-day — 
“lily  whites,”  if  you  please— who,  after  receiving  the  unalloyed 
support  of  the  negro  vote  for  over  thirty  years,  now  feel  that  they 
have  grown  a little  too  good  for  association  with  him  politically, 
4686 


8 


and  are  disposed  to  dump  him  overboard.  I am  glad  to  observe, 
however,  that  this  class  constitutes  a very  small  percentage  of  those 
to  whom  we  have  always  looked  for  friendship  and  protection. 

I wish  to  quote  from  another  Southern  gentleman,  not  so  young 
as  my  other  friends,  and  who  always  commands  attention  in  this 
House  by  his  wit  and  humor,  even  though  his  speeches  may  not 
he  edifying  and  instructive.  I refer  to  Mr.  Otey,  of  Virginia, 
and  quote  from  him  in  a recent  speech  on  this  floor,  as  follows; 

Justice  is  merely  relative.  It  can  exist  between  equals.  It  can  exist 
among  homogeneous  people.  Among  equals— among  heterogeneous  people— 
it  never  has  and,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  it  never  will  obtain.  It  can 
exist  among  lions,  but  between  lions  and  lambs,  never.  If  justice  were  abso- 
lute, Hons  must  of  necessity  perish.  Open  his  ponderous  jaws  and  find  the 
strong  teeth  which  God  has  made  expressly  to  chew  lamb's  fiesh!  When  the 
Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelly  to  Animals  shall  overcome  this  diffi- 
culty, men  may  hope  to  settle  the  race  question  along  sentimental  lines,  not 
sooner. 

These  thoughts  on  the  negro  are  from  the  pen,  in  the  main,  of  one  who 
has  studied  the  negro  question,  and  it  was  after  I heard  the  gentleman  from 
North  Carolina,  and  after  the  introduction  of  the  Crumpacker  bill,  that  they 
occurred  to  me  peculiarly  appropriate. 

I am  wholly  at  sea  as  to  just  what  Mr.  Otey  had  in  view  in  ad- 
vancing the  thoughts  contained  in  the  above  quotation,  unless  he 
wishes  to  extend  the  simile  and  apply  the  lion  as  a white  man  and 
the  negro  as  a lamb.  In  that  case  we  will  gladly  accept  the  com- 
parison, for  of  all  animals  knov/n  in  God’s  creation  the  lamb  is  the 
most  inoffensive,  and  has  been  in  all  ages  held  up  as  a badge  of 
innocence.  But  what  will  my  good  friend  of  Virginia  do  with  the 
Bible,  for  God  says  that  He  created  all  men  of  one  flesh  and  blood? 
Again,  we  insist  on  having  one  race— the  lion  clothed  with  great 
strength,  vicious,  and  with  destructive  propensities,  while  the 
other  is  weak,  good  natured,  inoffensive,  and  useful — what  will 
he  do  with  all  the  heterogeneous  intermediate  animals,  ranging  all 
the  way  from  the  pure  lion  to  the  pure  lamb,  found  on  the  plan- 
tations of  every  Southern  State  in  the  Union? 

I regard  his  borrowed  thoughts,  as  he  admits  they  are,  as  very 
inaptly  applied.  However,  it  has  perhaps  served  the  purpose  for 
which  he  intended  it— the  attempt  to  show  the  inferiority  of  the 
one  and  the  superiority  of  the  other.  I fear  I am  giving  too  much 
time  in  the  consideration  of  these  personal  comments  of  members 
of  Congress,  but  I trust  I will  be  pardoned  for  making  a passing 
reference  to  one  more  gentleman — Mr.  Wilson  of  South  Caro- 
lina—who,  in  the  early  part  of  this  month,  made  a speech  some 
parts  of  which  did  great  credit  to  him,  showing,  as  it  did,  capac- 
ity for  collating,  arranging,  and  advancing  thoughts  of  others 
and  of  making  a pretty  strong  argument  out  of  a very  poor  case. 

If  he  had  stopped  there,  while  not  agreeing  with  him,  many  of 
us  would  have  been  forced  to  admit  that  he  had  done  well.  But 
his  x)urpose  was  incomplete  until  he  dragged  in  the  reconstruction 
days  and  held  up  to  scorn  and  ridicule  the  few  ignorant,  gullible, 
and  perhaps  purchasable  negroes  who  served  in  the  State  legisla- 
ture of  South  Carolina  over  thirty  years  ago.  Not  a word  did  he 
say  about  the  unscrupulous  white  men,  in  the  main  bummers 
who  followed  in  the  wake  of  the  Federal  Army  and  settled  them- 
selves in  the  Southern  States,  and  preyed  upon  the  ignorant  and 
unskilled  minds  of  the  colored  people,  looted  the  States  of  their 
wealth,  brought  into  lowest  disrepute  the  ignorant  colored  people, 
then  hied  away  to  their  Northern  homes  for  ease  and  comfort  the 
balance  of  their  lives,  or  joined  the  Democratic  party  to  obtain 
social  recognition,  and  have  greatly  aided  in  depressing  and  fur- 
4686 


9 

tlier  degrading  those  whom  they  had  nsed  as  easy  tools  to  accom- 
plish a diabolical  purpose. 

These  few  ignorant  men  who  chanced  at  that  time  to  hold  office 
are  given  as  a reason  why  the  black  man  should  not  be  permitted 
to  participate  in  the  affairs  of  the  Government  which  he  is  forced 
to  pay  taxes  to  support.  He  insists  that  they,  the  Southern  whites, 
are  the  black  man’s  best  friend,  and  that  they  are  taking  him  by 
the  hand  and  trying  to  lift  him  up;  that  they  are  educating  him. 
For  all  that  he  and  all  Southern  people  have  done  in  this  regard, 
I wish  in  behalf  of  the  colored  people  of  the  South  to  extend  our 
thanks.  We  are  not  ungrateful  to  friends,  but  feel  that  our  toil 
has  made  our  friends  able  to  contribute  the  stinty  pittance  which 
we  have  received  at  their  hands. 

I read  in  a Democratic  paper  a few  days  ago,  the  Washington 
Times,  an  extract  taken  from  a South  Carolina  paper,  which  was 
intended  to  exhibit  the  eagerness  with  which  the  negro  is  grasping 
every  opportunity  for  educating  himself.  The  clipping  showed 
that  the  money  for  each  white  child  in  the  State  ranged  from 
three  to  five  times  as  much  per  capita  as  was  given  to  each  colored 
child.  This  is  helping  us  some,  but  not  to  the  extent  that  one 
would  infer  from  the  gentleman’s  speech. 

If  the  gentleman  to  whom  I have  referred  will  pardon  me,  I 
would  like  to  advance  the  statement  that  the  musty  records  of 
1868,  filed  away  in  the  archives  of  Southern  capitols,  as  to  what 
the  negro  was  thirty-two  years  ago,  is  not  a proper  standard  by 
which  the  negro  living  on  the  threshold  of  the  twentieth  century 
should  be  measured.  Since  that  time  we  have  reduced  the  illiter- 
acy of  the  race  at  least  45  per  cent.  We  have  written  and  pub- 
lished near  500  books.  We  have  nearly  300  newspapers,  3 of 
which  are  dailies.  We  have  now  in  practice  over  2,000  lawyers 
and  a corresponding  number  of  doctors.  We  have  accumulated 
over  $12,000,000  worth  of  school  property  and  about  $40,000,000 
worth  of  church  property.  We  iiave  about  140,000  farms  and 
homes,  valued  at  in  tbe  neighborhood  of  $750,000,000,  and  personal 
property  valued  at  about  $170,000,000.  We  have  raised  about 
$11,000,000  for  educational  purposes,  and  the  property  per  capita 
for  every  colored  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  United  States  is 
estimated  at  $75. 

We  are  operating  successfully  several  banks,  commercial  enter- 
\)ris8s  among  our  people  in  the  Southland,  including  1 silk  mill 
and  1 cotton  factory.  We  have  32,000  teachers  in  the  schools  of 
the  country;  wehavebuilt,  with  the  aid  of  our  friends,  about  20,000 
churches,  and  support  7 colleges,  17  academies,  50  high  schools,  5 
law  schools,  5 medical  schools,  and  25  theological  seminaries.  We 
have  over  600,000  acres  of  land  in  the  South  alone.  The  cotton 
produced,  mainly  by  black  labor,  has  increased  from  4,669,770  bales 
in  1860  to  11,235,000  in  1899.  All  this  we  have  done  under  the 
most  adverse  circumstances.  W e have  done  it  in  the  face  of  lynch- 
ing, burning  at  the  stake,  with  the  humiliation  of  “Jim  Crow” 
cars,  the  disfranchisement  of  our  male  citizens,  slander  and  deg- 
radation of  our  women,  with  the  factories  closed  against  us,  no 
negro  permitted  to  be  conductor  on  the  railway  cars,  whether  run 
through  the  streets  of  o'ur  cities  or  across  the  prairies  of  our  great 
country,  nonegropermittedtorun’asengineer  on  alocomotive,  most 
of  the  mines  closed  against  us.  Labor  unions— carpenters,  paint- 
ers, brick  masons,  machinists,  hackmen,  and  those  supplying  nearly 
every  conceivable  avocation  for  livelihood  have  banded  them- 
4686 


10 


selves  together  to  better  their  condition,  but,  with  few  excep- 
tions, the  black  face  has  been  l^'ft  out.  The  negroes  are  seldom 
employed  in  our  mercantile  stores.  At  this  we  do  not  "wonder. 
Some  day  we  hope  to  have  them  employed  in  our  own  stores. 
With  all  these  odds  against  us,  we  are  forging  our  way  ahead, 
slowly,  perhaps,  but  surely.  You  may  tie  us  and  then  taunt  us 
for  a lack  of  bravery,  but  one  day  we  will  break  the  bonds.  You 
may  use  our  labor  for  two  and  a half  centuries  and  then  taunt  us 
for  our  poverty,  but  let  me  remind  you  we  will  not  always  re- 
main poor.  You  may  withhold  even  the  knowledge  of  how  to 
read  God's  word  and  learn  the  way  from  earth  to  glory  and  then 
taunt  us  for  our  ignorance,  but  we  would  remind  you  that  there 
is  plenty  of  room  at  the  top,  and  we  are  climbing. 

After  enforced  debauchery,  with  the  many  kindred  horrors  inci- 
dent to  slavery,  it  comes  with  ill  grace  from  the  perpetrators  of 
these  deeds  to  hold  up  the  shortcomings  of  some  of  our  race  to 
ridicule  and  scorn. 

“The  new  man,  the  slave  who  has  grown  out  of  the  ashes  of 
thirty-five  years  ago,  is  inducted  into  the  political  and  social  sys- 
tem, cast  into  the  arena  of  manhood,  where  he  constitutes  a new 
element  and  becomes  a competitor  for  all  its  emoluments.  He  is 
put  upon  trial  to  test  his  ability  to  be  counted  worthy  of  freedom, 
worthy  of  the  elective  franchise;  and  after  thirty-five  years  of 
struggling  against  almost  insurmountable  odds,  under  conditions 
but  little  removed  from  slavery  itself,  he  asks  a fair  and  just  judg- 
ment, not  of  those  whose  prejudice  has  endeavored  to  forestall, 
to  frustrate  his  every  forward  movement,  rather  those  who  have 
lent  a helping  hand,  that  he  might  demonstrate  the  truth  of  ‘ the 
fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man.’” 

Mr.  Chairman,  permit  me  to  digress  for  a few  moments  for  the 
purpose  of  calling  the  attention  of  the  House  to  two  bills  which  I 
regard  as  important,  introduced  by  me  in  the  early  part  of  the 
first  session  of  this  Congress.  The  first  was  to  give  the  United 
States  control  and  entire  jurisdiction  over  all  cases  of  lynching 
and  death  by  mob  violence.  During  the  last  session  of  this  Con- 
gress I took  occasion  to  address  myself  in  detail  to  this  particular 
measure,  but  with  all  my  efforts  the  bill  still  sweetly  sleeps  in  the 
room  of  the  committee  to  which  it  was  referred.  The  necessity  of 
legislation  along  this  line  is  daily  being  demonstrated.  The  arena 
of  the  lyncher  no  longer  is  confined  to  Southern  climes,  but  is 
stretching  its  hydra  head  over  all  parts  of  the  Union. 

Sow  the  seed  of  a tarnished  name— 

You  sow  the  seed  of  eternal  shame. 

It  is  needless  to  ask  what  the  harvest  will  be.  You  may  dodge 
this  question  now;  you  may  defer  it  to  a more  seasonable  day;  you 
may,  as  the  gentleman  from  Maine,  Mr.  Littlefield,  puts  it — 
Waddle  in  and  waddle  out, 

Until  the  mind  was  left  in  doubt, 

Whether  the  snake  that  made  the  track 
Was  going  south  or  coming  back. 

This  evil  peculiar  to  America,  yes,  to  the  United  States,  must 
be  met  somehow,  some  day. 

The  other  bill  to  which  I wish  to  call  attention  is  one  intro- 
duced by  me  to  appropriate  $1,000,000  to  reimburse  depositors  of 
the  late  Freedman’s  Savings  and  Trust  Company. 

A bill  making  appropriation  for  a similar  purpose  passed  the 
Senate  in  the  first  session  of  the  Fiftieth  Congress.  It  was  recom- 
4686 


11 


mended  by  President  Cleveland,  and  was  urged  by  the  Comptrol- 
ler of  the  Currency,  Mr.  Trenholm,  in  1886.  I can  not  press  home  to 
your  minds  this  matter  more  strongly  than  by  reproducing  the 
report  of  the  Committee  on  Banking  and  Currency,  made  by  Mr. 
Wilkins  on  the  Senate  bill  above  referred  to,  as  follows: 

In  March,  1865,  the  Freedman’s  Savings  and  Trust  Company  was  incor- 
porated by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  to  meet  the  economic  and  com- 
mercial necessities  of  7,000,000  of  colored  people  recently  emancipated. 

Its  incorporators,  50  in  number,  were  named  in  the  act  authorizing  its 
erection,  and  embraced  the  names  of  leading  philanthropic  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  whose  names,  as  was  intended,  commended  the  institution  to 
those  inexperienced,  simple-minded  people,  who  are  to-day  its  principal 
creditors. 

The  Freedman’s  Bank,  as  it  is  popularly  called,  was  designed  originally  to 
perform  for  this  trustful  people  the  functions,  as  its  name  implies,  of  a sav- 
ings bank,  and  none  other  than  those  hithertofore  held  in  slavery  or  their 
descendants  were  to  become  its  depositors. 

Its  purpose  was  (to  quote  the  paragraph  in  the  original  law)  — 

To  receive  on  deposit  such  sums  of  money  as  may  from  time  to  time  be  of- 
fered therefor,  by  or  in  behalf  of  persons  hithertofore  held  in  slavery  in  tbe 
United  States,  or  their  descendants,  and  investing  the  same  in  the  stocks, 
bonds,  and  Treasury  notes,  or  other  securities  of  the  United  States. 

The  distinction  provided  in  the  bill  in  favor  of  the  payment  of 
“such  persons  in  whole  or  in  part  of  African  descent”  rests  upon 
the  foregoing  paragraph  of  the  original  law,  and  no  persons  other 
than  those  named  have  the  right  to  make  use  of  this  institution  in 
any  manner;  neither  have  they  the  right  to  acquire  by  any  means 
any  interest  in  its  assets. 

For  four  years  after  the  organization  of  the  Freedman’s  Savings 
and  Trust  Company  the  laws  seemed  to  have  been  honestly  ob- 
served by  its  officers  and  the  provisions  in  its  charter  faithfully 
recognized.  Congress  itself,  however,  seems  to  have  been  dere- 
lict in  its  duty.  One  section  of  the  original  grant  provided  that 
the  books  of  the  institution  were  to  be  open  at  all  times  to  in- 
spection and  examination  of  officers  appointed  by  Congress  to  con- 
duct the  same,  yet  it  does  not  appear  that  Congress  ever  appointed 
an  officer  for  this  purpose,  nor  has  an  examination  of  the  charac- 
ter contemplated  hy  Congress  ever  been  made.  The  officers  of  the 
bank  were  to  give  bonds.  There  is  nothing  in  the  records  to  show 
that  any  bond  was  ever  executed.  Any  proper  examination 
would  have  developed  this  fact,  and  probably  great  loss  would  have 
been  prevented  thereby.  In  1870  Congi*ess  changed  or  amended 
the  charter  without  the  knowledge  or  consent  of  those  who  had 
intrusted  their  savings  to  its  custody. 

This  amendment  embodied  a radical  change  in  the  investment 
of  these  deposits  by  providing  that  instead  of  the  safe,  conserva- 
tive, and  prudent  provision  in  the  original  charter  “that  two- 
thirds  of  all  the  deposits  should  be  invested  exclusively  in  Gov- 
ernment securities,”  the  dangerous  privilege  of  allowing  the  irre- 
sponsible officers  to  loan  one-half  of  its  assets  in  bonds  and 
mortgages  and  other  securities,  invest  in  and  improve  real  estate 
without  inspection,  without  examination,  or  responsibility  on  the 
part  of  its  officers.  The  institution  could  only  go  on  to  a certain 
bankruptcy.  In  May,  1870,  Congress  amended  the  charter,  and 
from  that  date  began  the  speculative,  dishonest  transactions  upon 
the  part  of  those  controlling  the  institution  until  resulting  in 
ultimate  suspension  and  failure,  with  consequent  disastrous  loss 
to  this  innocent  and  trustful  people. 

It  is  contended  by  your  committee  that  there  was  a moral  re- 
sponsibility, at  least,  if  not  an  equitable  responsibility,  assumed 
4686 


UNIVERSITY  OF 
ILLINOIS  LIBRARY. 

AT  URBANA-CHAMPAI6N 


12 


by  the  Government  when  Congress  changed  the  original  charter 
of  the  company  as  to  the  nature  of  its  loans  and  investments, 
when  it  failed  to  have  the  consent  of  the  depositors,  because  of 
which  change  most  of  its  losses  were  incurred.  This  ought  to  be 
regarded  a very  strong  argument  in  favor  of  this  bill. 

Then,  again,  Congress  undertook  the  supervision  of  the  trust 
and  failed,  so  far  as  your  committee  can  ascertain,  to  carry  out 
their  undertaking. 

The  attention  of  the  House  is  directed  to  the  following  extract 
from  the  President’s  message  to  Congress  in  December,  1886: 

I desire  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Congress  to  a plain  duty  which  the 
Government  owes  to  the  depositors  in  the  Freedman’s  Savings  and  Trust 
Company. 

This  company  was  chartered  by  the  Congress  for  the  benefit  of  the  most 
illiterate  and  humble  of  our  people,  and  with  the  intention  of  encouraging 
in  them  industry  and  thrift.  Most  of  its  branches  were  presided  over  by 
officers  holding  the  commissions  and  clothed  in  the  uniform  of  the  United 
States.  These  and  other  circumstances  reasonably,  I think,  led  these  simple 
people  to  suppose  that  the  invitation  to  depo.sit  their  hard-earned  savings  in 
this  institution  implied  an  undertaking  on  the  part  of  their  Government  that 
their  money  should  be  safely  kept  for  them. 

When  this  company  failed  it  was  liable  in.the  sum  of  $2,939,925.32  to  61,131 
depositors.  Dividends  amounting  in  the  aggregate  to  63  per  cent  have  been 
declared,  and  the  sum  called  for  and  paid  of  such  dividends  seems  to  be 
$1,648,181.72.  This  sum  deducted  from  the  entire  amount  of  deposits  leaves 
$1,291,744.59  still  unpaid.  Past  experience  has  .shown  that  quite  a large  part 
of  this  sum  will  not  be  called  for.  There  are  assets  still  on  hand  amounting 
to  the  estimated  sum  of  $16,000. 

I think  the  remaining  38  per  cent  of  such  of  these  deposits  as  have  claim- 
ants should  be  paid  by  the  Government,  upon  principles  of  equity  and  fair- 
ness. 

The  report  of  the  commissioner,  soon  to  be  laid  before  Congress,  will  give 
more  satisfactory  details  on  the  subject. 

And  also  to  extracts  from  the  report  to  Congress  of  the  commis- 
sioner having  charge  of  the  assets  of  the  institution  at  the  present 
time  (the  Comptroller  of  the  Currency,  Mr.  Trenholm).  See  re- 
port for  1886  and  emphasized  in  1887: 

My  predecessors  have  at  various  times  urged  upon  Congress  the  justice  of 
providing  for  the  extinguishment  of  all  outstanding  claims  of  depositors,  and, 
having  had  the  opportunity  to  look  into  the  matter,  I most  earnestly  add  my 
voice  in  invoking  the  attention  of  Congress  to  the  importance  of  sustaining 
the  honor  of  the  Government  by  an  immediate  settlement  of  the  claims  of  all 
depositors  who  can  be  identified. 

It  seems  plain  that  the  honor  of  the  Government  became  engaged  in  this 
undertaking  when,  in  1865,  Congress,  in  the  act  of  incorporation,  held  out  to 
the  lately  emancipated  slaves  inducements  to  intrust  their  earnings  to  this 
institution  by  selecting  as  trustees  the  distinguished  gentlemen  whose  names 
were  incorporated  in  the  charter,  by  requiring  the  deposits  to  be  invested  in 
securities  of  the  United  States,  and  by  subjecting  the  books  to  Congressional 
examination. 

This  last  provision  was  especially  significant,  and  bound  Congress  to  pro- 
vide for  adequate  examinations  from  time  to  time,  since  none  of  the  50  trus- 
tees lived  in  Washington  and  only  9 constituted  a quorum. 

Under  the  sanction  of  the  Government  and  in  the  name  of  the  philanthro- 
pists, statesmen,  and  financiers  thus  united  in  a laudable  purpose  .to  secure 
the  safe  and  profitable  investment  of  the  pay  and  bounty  money  of  the  col- 
ored troops,  and  of  the  savings  of  other  classes  among  the  newly  emanci- 
pated negroes.  Army  officers  on  duty  in  the  South  and  the  officials  and  agents 
of  the  Freedman’s  Bureau  were  induced  to  urge  the  freedmen  to  bring  their 
savings  to  be  taken  care  of  by  their  friends  and  protectors. 

Anson  M.  Sperry,  in  his  examination  before  the  Senate  investigating  com- 
mittee, testified  that  he  was  employed  in  September,  1865,  as  general  field 
agent  to  operate  in  the  Twenty-fifth  Army  Corps;  that  he  was  commended 
by  the  Secretary  of  War  to  the  commanders  of  the  colored  troops,  and  re- 
ceived from  General  Brice  authority  to  be  present  at  the  pay  tables  in  order 
there  to  persuade  the  men  as  they  were  paid  off  to  confide  their  money  to 
the  safe  keeping  of  this  institution.  Similar  efforts  were  no  doubt  made 
everywhere. 

The  company  had  previously  been  promised  the  deposits  already  accumu- 
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lated.  in  the  savings  banks  established  at  Norfolk  by  General  Butler,  and  at 
Beaufort,  S.  C.  by  General  Saxton,  so  that  these  officers  must  be  presumed 
to  have  accepted  it  as  a safe  depositary. 

The  pass  books  issued  to  depositors  in  the  Freedman’s  Savings  and  Trust 
Company  bore  on  the  covers  likenesses  of  President  Lincoln  and  of  Generals 
Grant  and  Howard,  and  others  whom  the  freedmen  had  learned  to  rever- 
ence as  special  benefactors  of  their  race;  the  flag  of  the  Union  was  depicted 
as  sheltering  and  binding  together  the  persons  thus  portrayed,  while  the  re- 
maining space  was  occupied  with  other  pictorial  devices  adapted  to  the  com- 
prehension of  those  whose  savings  were  sought  after,  and  manifestly  de- 
signed to  assure  them  that  the  Government  sanctioned  the  enterprise  and 
would  protect  their  interests. 

The  following  citations  are  taken  from  a little  pamphlet  which  appears  to 
have  been  given  to  depositors  and  otherwise  widely  circulated  at  the  South: 

“I  consider  the  Freedman’s  Savings  and  Trust  Company  to  be  greatly 
needed  by  the  colored  people,  and  have  welcomed  it  as  an  auxiliary  to  the 
Freedman’s  Bureau.”  (Maj.  Gen.  O.  O.  Howard.) 

“The  whole  institution  is  under  the  charter  of  Congress,  and  received  the 
commendation  and  countenance  of  the  President,  Abraham  Lincoln.  One  of 
the  last  official  acts  of  his  valued  life  was  the  signing  of  the  bill  which  gave 
legal  existence  of  this  bank.” 

“Principal  office,  Washington,  D.  C.,  opposite  the  Treasury  of  the  United 
States.” 

“This  savings  bank  is  established  by  act  of  Congress,  approved  March  3, 
188.5,  by  Abraham  Lincoln. 

“ It  is  under  the  direction  of  a board  of  50  trustees,  who  serve  without  pay. 
The  branch  offices  are  also  under  the  supervision  of  local  committees,  chosen 
from  the  best  men  in  the  vicinity  of  each  branch. 

“The  bank  can  not  loan  its  deposits  nor  use  them  in  any  way,  except  to 
invest  them,  according  to  the  act  of  Congress,  in  the  bonds  of  the  United 
States  and  in  real-estate  securities  worth  double  the  amount  so  invested. 

“ The  profits  of  the  bank  are  all  returned  to  the  depositors  as  interest,  nec- 
essary expenses  alone  excepted.  The  income  from  deposits  not  called  for 
goes  to  the  ‘ educational  fixnd  ’ for  the  sole  use  of  the  freedmen  and  their 
descendants. 

“ The  bank  is  obliged  to  keep  its  books  open  at  all  times  to  the  inspection 
of  such  committees  as  Congress  may  from  time  to  time  appoint.” 

Everything  done  had  the  inevitable  effect  of  impressing  upon  those  whose 
savings  were  solicited  the  assurance  that  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  had  undertaken  to  secure  their  safe-keeping,  and  unless  the  good  faith 
of  the  original  promoters  of  the  bank  is  doubted  this  was  probably  distinctly 
stated  over  and  over  again. 

While  there  may  have  been  some  unprincipled  persons  engaged  in  the 
enterprise,  it  would  be  unjust  to  question  the  good  faith  of  the  many  dis- 
interested benefactors  of  the  freedmen,  such,  for  example,  as  Frederick 
Douglass,  Charles  Sumner,  and  others  who  were  among  its  promoters,  and 
therefore  they  must  be  presumed  to  have  depended  upon  the  terms  of  the 
charter  and  the  character  of  the  trustees  to  justify  the  earnestness  and  the 
energy  which  they  threw  into  their  efforts  to  gather  in  deposits. 

Your  committee  report  the  bill  back  to  the  House  with  an  amendment,  and 
recommend  the  passage  of  the  same. 

May  I hope  that  the  Committee  on  Banking  and  Currency  who 
has  charge  of  this  measure  will  yet  see  its  way  clear  to  do  tardy 
justice,  long  deferred,  to  this  much  wronged  and  unsuspecting  peo- 
ple. If  individuals  sections  of  the  country,  individual  political 
parties  can  afford  to  commit  deeds  of  wrong  against  us,  certainly 
a great  nation  like  ours  will  see  to  it  that  a people  so  loyal  to  its 
flag  as  the  black  man  has  shown  himself  in  every  war  from  the 
birth  of  the  Union  to  this  day,  will  not  permit  this  obligation  to 
go  longer  uncanceled. 

Now,  Mr.  Chairman,  before  concluding  my  remarks  I want  to 
submit  a brief  recipe  for  the  solution  of  the  so-called  American 
negro  problem.  He  asks  no  special  favors,  but  simply  demands 
that  he  be  given  the  same  chance  for  existence,  for  earning  a live- 
lihood, for  raising  himself  in  the  scales  of  manhood  and  woman- 
hood that  are  accorded  to  kindred  nationalities.  Treat  him  as  a 
man;  go  into  his  home  and  learn  of  his  social  conditions;  learn  of 
his  cares,  his  troubles,  and  his  hopes  for  the  future;  gain  his  con- 
fidence; open  the  doors  of  industry  to  him;  let  the  word  “ negro,” 
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14 

“colored,”  and  “black”  be  stricken  from  all  the  organizations 
enumerated  in  the  federation  of  labor. 

Help  him  to  overcome  his  weaknesses,  punish  the  crime-com- 
mitting class  by  the  courts  of  the  land,  measure  the  standard  of 
the  race  by  its  best  material,  cease  to  mold  prejudicial  and  unjust 
public  sentiment  against  him,  and  my  word  for  it,  he  will  learn  to 
support,  hold  up  the  hands  of,  and  join  in  with  that  political  party, 
that  institution,  whether  secular  or  religious,  in  every  community 
where  he  lives,  which  is  destined  to  do  the  greatest  good  for  the 
greatest  number.  Obliterate  race  hatred,  party  prejudice,  and 
help  us  to  achieve  nobler  ends,  greater  results,  and  become  more 
satisfactory  citizens  to  our  brother  in  white. 

This,  Mr.  Chairman,  is  perhaps  the  negroes’  temporary  farewell 
to  the  American  Congress;  but  let  me  say,  Phoenix-like  he  will 
rise  up  some  day  and  come  again.  These  parting  words  are  in 
behalf  of  an  outraged,  heart-broken,  bruised,  and  bleeding,  but 
God-fearing  people,  faithful,  industrious,  loyal  people — rising 
people,  full  of  potential  force. 

Mr.  Chairman,  in  the  trial  of  Lord  Bacon,  when  the  court  dis- 
turbed the  counsel  for  the  defendant.  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  raised 
himself  up  to  his  full  height  and,  addressing  the  court,  said: 

Sir,  I am  pleading  for  the  life  of  a human  being. 

The  only  apology  that  I have  to  make  for  the  earnestness  with 
which  I have  spoken  is  that  I am  pleading  for  the  life,  the  liberty, 
the  future  happiness,  and  manhood  suffrage  for  one-eighth  of  the 
entire  populaUon  of  the  United  States.  [Loud  applause.] 

o 


